Cops To Set Gun Sights On Competition Targets

CORAL SPRINGS — During the course of a 20-year career, the chances are great that a police or public safety officer will never be forced to fire a gun at a crime suspect.

It pays for cops to know they are ready, though.

More than 50 police officers from Broward, Dade and Palm Beach counties are expected to put their quick and accurate draw to the test Saturday during Coral Springs` first law enforcement shoot-out.

The event is being held from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the Coral Springs Police Department`s new ultra-modern police training facility. The public is invited to attend at no charge. Competitors, limited to state-certified police officers, can register at 8 a.m. the day of the event, but must bring their duty weapon and leather holsters.

Using standard police issued handguns and automatic shotguns, officers will run four courses designed to find the officers who can shoot, reload and move the best under pressure.

``Bascially, they`re going to have to find the adversarial targets, the bad guys, in the midst of friendly targets,`` said Sgt. John Sando, supervisor of Coral Springs Police Department`s training unit.

Sando said each of the four courses, nicknamed El Presidente, Stop and Rob, Shotgun Scramble and Convenience Robbery, put the officers in the middle of actual crime situations.

Stop and Rob, Sando said, is patterned after a convenience store robbery in progress. El Presidente was developed from an actual attempted coup in a Latin American country, he said. During El Presidente, the officers must shoot from behind barricades and hit six targets.